SUB J of Sustainable Environ and Dev, Volume 2, July 2017 A REVIEW ON SUSTAINABLE GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT IN BANGLADESH Mohammad Zakir Hossain Khan‘ ABSTRACT Bangladesh is a country of floodplains and is located on the delta of one of the world’s major rivers, The Ganges River. Due to the high level of advocacy for good quality water, the private agencies and non- governmental organizations (NGOs) were encouraged to install more shallow tube-wells in rural Bangladesh. The lack of proper planning of tube-well installation resulted in excessive withdrawal of groundwater for the last 40 years. Withdrawals of groundwater started in the year 1965’s for irrigation, initially through deep tube-wells. Today the number of operating tube-wells according to the 1997/98 National Minor Irrigation Census is around 25,354. Arsenic contamination in Bangladesh has slowly approached a disaster during the last decade due to the overexploitation of groundwater and inefficient water resources management. Seventy-nine percent of rural people in Bangladesh drink groundwater extracted by shallow tube-wells. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) was issued by Bangladesh in 2000 to have the proportion of people in the country that do not have access to safe drinking water by 2015 (UN 2000). Every year there is a large gap between demand and supply during the dry season therefore the water supply becomes critical in the dry season. Considering current crisis of groundwater, country needs proper water resource management. Adequate water resource management scheme is essential to get the maximum benefits from the existing water resources without causing other problems. Yet Bangladesh has not achieved a satisfactory level of skill in water resources management, and water resources management became recognized as essential ty cusuie the supply of safe drinking water throughout the country. Key Words: Sustainability, Groundwater, Arsenic, Resource, Management, etc. ' Environment, Health and Safety Department, SGS Bangladesh Limited; Email: [email protected] 146Khan, Mohammad Zakir Hossain 1.0 Introduction Bangladesh is a country of floodplains and is located on the delta of one of the world’s major rivers, The Ganges River. The country is rich in water resources and has a number of rivers, canals, lakes, and huge water-bearing aquifers. Every year the country is also blessed with ample rain. Yet, the people of this country are deprived of the desired benefits from the water resources mainly due to the lack of management policy and technical drawbacks. Begum and Karim (2000) stated that massive programs for sinking shallow tube-wells were introduced by the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) in cooperation with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 1973. Since 1973 the DPHE became the prominent leader for water supply in rural areas, and a decentralized institutional network up to the Upazila level was established. Due to the high level of advocacy for good quality water, the private agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were encouraged to install more shallow tube-wells in rural Bangladesh. The lack of proper planning of tube-well installation resulted in excessive withdrawal of groundwater for the last 40 years (Miah, 1998). Multifaceted stresses resulting from the lack of efficient water resources management have created the potential for conflicts between different segments of rural society. ‘Arsenic contamination in Bangladesh has slowly approached a disaster during the last decade due to the overexploitation of groundwater and inefficient water resources management. Safiuddin and Karim (2001) advised that removal of arsenic from water is possible by ultraviolet radiation, oxidation, chemical precipitation and filtration. Arsenic contaminated soils and shallow groundwater aquifers could also be cleaned by flushing out arsenic contaminants. This study has reinforced the issue of community based water resources management in Bangladesh. The main goal of this study is to highlights the alternative options for safe water; discusses the necessity of a sustainable national water resources management policy for the country recommends community participation in water resources management and finally introduces a simple management model for combating arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh. 147Khan, Mohammad Zakir Hossain 2.0 Methods and Materials The study was conducted through secondary data collection of different institutions and newspaper reports. Collected data were analyzed. Collected information’s were processed, analyzed and interpreted to find the result the study. The analyzed data are represented through appropriate representing form. 3.0 Findings According to Begum and Karim (2000) seventy-nine percent of rural people in Bangladesh drink groundwater extracted by shallow tube-wells. It is not easy for them to switch quickly to the use of surface water and/or rainwater. Hence, the usage of groundwater from shallow tube-wells with permissible arsenic concentration should be continued until getting the appropriate alternative water sources with desired level of acceptability. At the same time, arsenic free alternative groundwater sources must be sought. Reference to AST/CIDA study in 1991, the Country is heavily dependent on groundwater development, primarily for agricultural and domestic water supply. Major withdrawals of groundwater started in the year 1965’s for irrigation, initially through deep tubewells. Today the number of operating tubewells according to the 1997/98 National Minor Irrigation Census is around 25,354. Shallow tubewells, driven by surface mounted centrifugal pumps and 0.5-cusec discharge capacity was introduced in the early 1970s. There has been a rapid increase in shallow tubewells numbers throughout the country, which increased from 110,000 in 1984/85 to 280,000 in 1990/91. Eighty two percent of the equipment’s in use comprises STWs and MOPU. The rural areas of Bangladesh generally suffer from lack of quality drinking water. Surface water supplies are generally polluted. Groundwater is generally free from pathogenic microorganisms. Bangladesh started an extensive program to provide safe drinking water at low cost water to rural population through STW in the year 1980. In the year 1997 it achieved a remarkable success by providing 97% of the rural population with tubewell water supply. WARPO (2001) stated that Bangladesh has a regionally extensive, mostly unconsolidated aquifer system, which is recharged annually 148Khan, Mohammad Zakir Hossain from rainfall and flooding. Aquifer systems considered comprising of two parts as an upper aquifer system composed primarily of quaternary to recent sediments which may be up to 30Um in thickness and a lower aquifer sequence possibly extending to 1600 meters depth. Available water well technology limits drilling to around 300 meter, is known that fresh water exist below this depth. The upper aquifer system has a threefold sequence an upper silty clay is 2 to 100 m thick overlying the composite aquifer composed of fine sand and silt is 3 to 60 m thick and the main aquifer composed of medium to coarse sands is 30 to more than 100 m thick. According to WARPO (2001), aquifer test data prove that the whole of the upper aquifer sequence behaves as single multiple aquifer system in which all the units are hydraulically connected. Majority of the aquifer is classed as unconfined or semi-confined aquifer. Groundwater is drawn from storage at the top of the main aquifer. Storage coefficient of semi-confined aquifer ranges between 5 to 8 percent, while for unconfined aquifer ranges between 10 to 25 percent. The storage’s capacity of upper aquifer increases with depth. A decade ago Groundwater quality was assumed to be generally good. However in the coastal region both the shallow and deeper aquifer was considered not usable because of salinity. Now apart from salinity, groundwater quality poses several problems while using as drinking water as well as for irrigation and industrial purposes. Iron in groundwater makes it unpopular for use for drinking, washing and irrigation. Chakraborty er al. 1995, stated that medical evidence of arsenicosis was first discovered in West Bengal in 1987, although the connection with groundwater contamination was not recognized until some years later. DPHE in 1993 tested for and identified arsenic at Chapai Nawabganj, Bangladesh near the border with West Bengal, but it was not until 1995 that the existence of arsenic in Bangladesh became widely known. It can be noted that Arsenic contamination in the region was first discovered during the 1980's in the neighboring West Bengal of India and later in 1993 three districts in the Northwest region were id with arsenic contamination. It is strongly concentrated 149Khan, Mohammad Zakir Hossain virtually entire of the southeast and southwest region of the country. Some areas are found along the western border of the South West, large areas of the South East, the extreme North East, spots North East of Dhaka along the Meghna and at points along the Ganges/Padma. On average | in 3 shallow tubewells in affected rural areas water contain arsenic in access of acceptable limit. In acute arsenic affected areas as high as 3 in 4 shallow wells are contaminated. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) was issued by Bangladesh in 2000 to have the proportion of people in the country that do not have access to safe drinking water by 2015 (UN 2000). WHO and UNICEF in 2000 and 2011 stated that there was no specific quality requirement; water was considered ‘safe’ if obtained from an ‘improved water source’ where tube wells are considered ‘improved’, but ponds are not. According to BBS (2011) and GOB (2015) taking arsenic contamination of groundwater into consideration, it was estimated in 2015 that 86 % of Bangladesh’s population is considered to have access to safe drinking water, well towards its goal of 89 %. 4.0 Needs of Sustainable Water Resources Management Bangladesh has significant water resources from rains, rivers, canals, natural depressions and groundwater are major sources of water. The availability of water in Bangladesh varies with the seasons. The availability of surface water in 1990 ranged from 3.710 million cubic meters during the dry season to 111,250 million cubic meters during the wet season (BBS, 1995). Every year there is a large gap between demand and supply during the dry season therefore the water supply becomes critical in the dry season. Proper utilization of surface water, groundwater and rainwater could avoid this critical condition. Hence it is essential to develop a sustainable water resources management system that will encompass both quantity and quality aspects of water and safeguard the water resources from any kind of contamination. The overall management approach will take account of the following aspects: 150Khan, Mohammad Zakir Hossain 1. Mapping arsenic contamination of groundwater in different regions of the country by review of ecological data. 2. Increase awareness among villagers with the help of village administration by campaign of arsenic health education and sanitation awareness. 3. Develop arsenic treatment process and assessment of their reliability and community acceptance. 4. Assurance participation of both female, male and children in the local communities. 5. Encourage and discuss the beneficial to use of surface water like rivers, canals, ponds, dug-wells and rain. 6. Train and implement community based investment programs with cost sharing values to maintain and operate the water supply system competently. 7. Considering current issues, review water system management system and establish linkage with governmental, non- governmental and private agencies. 5.0 Conclusions Considering current crisis of groundwater, country needs proper water resource management. The proposed management model would help resolution of the crisis of safe water. The following conclusions can be drawn from the present study: 1. Use of ground water must be reduced by use of alternative source of water. 2. Focus should be on rain water harvesting and use of surface water rather than treatment of arsenic contaminated water. 3. Sustainable water management must be devolved in arsenic contaminated water area. 4. Develop ground water recharge point. 5. Implement water resources management, whether it emphasizes surface water, rainwater or groundwater and must involve the participation of local communities. Adequate water resource management scheme is essential to get the maximum benefits from the existing water resources without causing other problems. Yet Bangladesh has not achieved a 131Khan, Mohammad Zakir Hossain satisfactory level of skill in water resources management, and water resources management became recognized as essential to ensure the supply of safe drinking water throughout the country. 6.0 References BBS 2011, Bangladesh National Drinking Water Quality Survey (NDWQS) of 2009, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF. RRS 1995. Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh, Dhaka: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Begum ZR, and Karim, MM 2000, Arsenic groundwater contamination of Bangladesh: community participation in groundwater resources management, Proceedings of the 93rd Annual Meeting and Exhibition of Air and Waste Management Association; 18-22 June 2000; Salt Lake, Utah, USA. Chatterjee A, Das D, Mandal BK, Chowdhury TR, Samanta G and Chakraborti D, 1995, Arsenic in groundwater of six Districts of West Bengal: the biggest arsenic calamity in the world, Part 1, Arsenic species in drinking water and urine of affected people, Analyst, 120: 640-650. DPHE and BGS 2001, Arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh, British Geological Survey and Department of Public Health Engineering, Government of Bangladesh; rapid investigation phase, Final Report. General Economics Division (GoB) 2015, Millennium Development Goals: Bangladesh progress report 2015. Miah F. 1998, In quest of safe water for rural Bangladesh, Proceedings of the International Arsenic Conference; December 1998; Dhaka: Dhaka Community Hospital. Safiuddin M. and Karim MM 2001, Groundwater arsenic contamination in Bangladesh: causes, effects and remediation, Proceedings of the Ist IEB International Conference and 7th Annual Paper Meet on Civil Engineering; 2-3 November 2001; Chittagong: Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh. pp. 220-230. 152Khan, Mohammad Zakir Hossain United Nations 2000, Resolution A/55/L.2, ‘United Nations Millennium Declaration’ adopted by the UN General Assembly, 18 September 2000. WARPO, December 2001, National Water Management Plan, Summery, Volume-1, WARPO, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2001. World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund, Joint monitoring program for water supply and sanitation, 2000, Global water supply and sanitation assessment 2000 report. 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